After suffering for several years from daily migraines, chronic sinus infections, lack of energy, intestinal sensitivity, and all around feeling crappy, I finally went and got allergy tested. My body was letting me know that there was something wrong and I didn’t even think twice that it could be allergies…until about 6 months ago. My symptoms never went away and I began eliminating things from my diet. Nothing seemed to help. I figured getting tested was the first step I needed to take to start feeling better.

HELLO ALLERGY TESTING!!!

99 different allergens.
{yikes!!}

{{Please disregard the tattoo. I got it 13 yrs ago when it was cool to wear higher waisted pants and WAY before the endearing term “tramp stamp” was invented!! I just aged myself didn’t I?? Oh well.}}

Okay, back to the allergy testing.
Here is a pic of what my back looked like 5 min into the testing:

Environmentals on the left and food on the right.

I never thought I could be allergic to the environment, I was searching for more food related allergies.
They retested some of the allergens, 15 to be exact, in my arm:

{I still have that nice grid on my arm!!}

GUESS WHAT??
I have absolutely NO food allergies!!
However, I’m completely allergic to trees and weeds.

So, now I’m on allergy meds and can honestly tell you that I do feel better. Who would have thought that my daily migraines, lack of energy, and chronic sinus infections would be allergy related?!? I didn’t, but I’m glad I know now!!!

I was relieved and felt a bit validated for feeling crappy!!

Plus, I could lovingly tell my hubby:
“See, it wasn’t all in my head,
I really do feel bad, and it’s not just me being hormonal!!!”

She is the sweetest most lovable dog ever. Hubby and I got her when she was 6 wks old and before we had kids. She is our first baby!! When I was pregnant with my 4yo {pictured}, we found ourselves in transition. Unfortunately, we had to find Tahoe a new home. My inlaws saved the day and Tahoe moved in with them. She lived with them for 4 yrs and has finally moved back home!!

My 4yo is in heaven!! She LOVE LOVE LOVES animals!!

We are so glad Tahoe is home!!

{We may have to find her a new home soon, but hopefully we can keep her.}

Now if I can just figure out what to do about this:

Spider Monkey showed up this morning covered in scratches and dried mud.
Cats aren’t supposed to get baths…but this might be an exception.

My 6yo is so creative and full of life, but it wasn’t always that way.

Kadison had to have double eye surgery, in February, to correct muscles that were too tight. She was a trooper and so brave!! The above picture was taken the day of surgery, before she got the “happy” medicine. Once the happy medicine kicked in, she didn’t get silly, like we were told, she just glazed over and was very unresponsive. We laughed about it, but it was very haunting for me.

When Kadison was born, she didn’t transition well. Meaning, she had a hard time transitioning from fluid to air. About an hr after she arrived, she stopped breathing, turned purple, and was rushed into NICU. I always felt bad when I was in the NICU, because my baby appeared to look healthy and was almost 8lbs, which was huge compared to the preemies in there. About a week later, they gave her a clean bill of health and we got to bring our second little girl home.

She was the best baby, but she wasn’t very interactive with her sister who is only 15 months older. She didn’t make a lot of eye contact, or smile a lot. We were very concerned, but it was chalked up to her developing at a different pace. We couldn’t help but think that the lack of oxygen to her brain had effected her.
An abundance of prayers went up for our little girl.

One night, when she was about 9 months old, I put her to bed like usual. The next morning, I went to get her and she was a completely different child. She looked the same, obviously, but she was different. Her eyes were bright and she started laughing, smiling, acknowledging everyone and just came alive. It was as if God flipped the lights on. Overnight our little girl was healed of whatever it was she had. We still don’t know what was wrong, we just know that she was healed from something, because the difference was so drastic.

Flash forward to that day in the hospital, 5yrs later, with the “happy” meds in her. I was reminded of how Kadison could have been if she wasn’t healed. It was haunting. And yet, I was reminded of how good our God is and what a miracle Kadison is.

Life goes on and the many blessings and miracles in our lives seem to fade and become a distant memory. Lord, please don’t let me forget.

Kadison on her 6th Birthday in March.
She is so funny, active, creative, generous, and loving.

I know most blog posts are funny, crafty, clever, or updates on life,
but this one is about me being transparent for a moment….

Let’s just get this out of the way:

I am NOT the perfect mom with the perfect little kids and perfect house.

I am a mom who thinks that motherhood doesn’t come naturally for most and whose kids are generally well behaved but have days when I feel like I could give them away to the next person that knocks on the door and let’s not even talk about my house.

Lately I have really been struggling with this revelation I made:

If my kids are such a blessing and I chose to have them,
why do I treat them like they are an inconvenience a lot of the time??

This isn’t a pleasant thing for me to admit, but I think that there are others out there that might feel the same way or do the same thing.

Why do we do that?

All I know is that my calling in this season of life is to be a mother. I feel like I am not taking advantage of every moment and easily get frustrated over spilled milk, tea, juice, water, cereal… I really have nothing better to do than take care of them, yet I often respond to them like they are interrupting the most important thing ever. It’s so ridiculous. I hate it.

Know this feeling?
I get so frustrated with myself because I am frustrated over silly things which makes me even more frustrated than ever before and I usually take this frustration out on the kids.
{ which is totally unfair to them }

I think that the process of motherhood is always challenging and very time consuming. It’s time to stop being selfish and invest quality time in our children because they grow up way to fast and I’m told “we’ll miss this one day.” Honestly, there are days that I couldn’t even tell you what we did. It’s just a blur and I realize that I just wasted another day. We know we aren’t even guaranteed tomorrow….so why are we wasting the days we do have??

Acknowledging this problem is the first step.
Repentance is the next.
Submitting yourself to God is next.

If we are operating out of love, we will respond to our children out of love.

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Philipians 2:3

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient bearing with one another in love.” Ephesians 4:2

I am in no way near where I want to be as a mom, but with the grace of God, I can accept who I am and that I am not perfect, nor will I ever be. Parenting is hard and I think more people should talk about the struggles of parenting instead of pretending everything is perfect.